Orientation towards Moscow is now becoming no alternative for Lukashenko
After the EU’s refusal to recognize its legitimacy, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will no longer be able to maneuver between the West and Russia.
This opinion, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent , was expressed to Nezavisimaya Gazeta by Alexander Tevdoy-Burmuli, associate professor of the MGIMO Department of Integration Processes.
“In any case, the period of warming in relations between Lukashenko and the EU is over. Joint projects will definitely be frozen. It will no longer be possible to maneuver between the West and Russia. For Lukashenko, orientation towards Moscow is becoming no alternative, although he himself, it seems, does not really understand this and is still building illusions,” says Tevdoy-Burmuli.
True, he believes that due to non-recognition by the West, Lukashenko becomes “analogous to the heads of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” which makes the creation of a single state of Russia and Belarus unlikely, since, the expert says, such an entity simply will not be internationally recognized.
The political scientist also believes that the Kremlin will consider unification with a country engulfed in unrest as dangerous.
“Russia is less and less interested in directly absorbing Belarus. By the way, this was well demonstrated by the last meeting between Putin and Lukashenko in Sochi, where political processes were not discussed, but only the economy,” said Tevdoy-Burmuli.
“Lukashenko cannot forever remain in the status in which he is now. We need some kind of ending. Without him, Lukashenko is a suspended political figure,” summed up the associate professor of the department of integration processes at MGIMO.
Lukashenko's focus on Moscow is now becoming the only option.